The ELCA Vault - Room Five

. . .Another major change for the church came in March 2010 when Christ Lutheran voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. The final decision, supported by 98 percent of the congregation, followed the ELCA's vote to allow homosexuals in committed relationships to serve as clergy. . .

. . .People on every side rejoiced that justice had done when the news about Osama broke on May 1. (See the the Time slide show of national and international headlines. Lots of emotions there.) The mood at ELCA Headquarters on Higgins Road was more subdued. . .

(by Don Kriefall) . . .Far too many members that follow the misguided leadership of the ELCA have fallen into the evil one's trap. What kind of audacity does it take to place conditions upon the Creator of the universe? . .

. . .the Fall 2007 Seminary Ridge Review, the journal of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG) which I received just this week. The article implies that using a masculine personal pronoun for God is an error and the article refers to the Holy Spirit by the feminine personal pronoun "She. . ."

. . .We had already recently experienced a sermon by an ELCA pastor that our congregation has been supporting as a missionary for 8 years, who actually believes that there are many ways to heaven and that all religions offer a valid path to salvation. . .

It is not coming to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly as a motion, at least I don't think it is, but it was suggested that 10% of the voting members at the next Assembly be youth. Don't get me wrong, I love the youth of our church, but don't we already have enough quotas for voting members? . .

. . .“This is much less about homosexuality, or serving the GLBT Lutherans, than it is about ‘what is the ultimate authority in the church.’ Is it the Word of God, or isn’t it?” “It’s really unfortunate that some in the ECLA want to cast this as a dispute strictly about homosexual clergy. But that’s the issue they (ELCA) chose to challenge God’s authority. . .”

(by Don Kriefall) . . .While the leadership of the ELCA continues to dabble in science and other worldly concerns, those that search for a relationship with the Lord are left thirsting without appropriate direction from this church. . .

(by Don Kriefall) . . . the leaders of the ELCA continue to celebrate the self and minimize our Lord’s role in their ministry. Why is it so difficult for the leaders of the ELCA to realize that it is Christ first?

. . .Bishop Hanson went on to say "(b)uilding on the president’s statement, we also continue to support a negotiated, final status agreement which achieves a 'shared Jerusalem' serving as a capital to both Palestine and Israel. . .

(by Don Kriefall). . .Is it not the church’s role to lead the lost to Christ and to uphold proper Christian doctrine or is it more important to allow God’s children to formulate beliefs that lead them away from our Lord? The ELCA promotes that it is more important to have fellowship with each other, regardless of belief or opinion. The doctrine of bound conscience allows one to twist Scripture to justify any worldly desire that you may wish to partake. . .

. . .Apparently now embraced by the ELCA, the word progressive (that I stressed in caps here) sounds alarm bells for me when I consider the recent progress the ELCA made last August wherein the denomination strode boldly into scriptural apostasy. . .

. . .It saddens me that after 500 years of Lutheran teaching, tradition and biblical understanding, the ELCA has chosen the path of separation from most of the rest of the overall Christian/Catholic Church in the world in the areas of a biblical view toward marriage and our expression as sexual beings. . .

I attended a meeting in 2008 where the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality was discussed. In that statement, the Apostle Paul was quoted 12 times, but not on what he said about sexual sin. . .